


Awaken

by Karmi



Series: Cloti Fall Festival 2019 [5]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: F/M, The Lifestream (Compilation of FFVII), reunited, true self
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2021-02-13 06:44:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21490075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karmi/pseuds/Karmi
Summary: She refuses to give up on him. He realizes all he needs is her.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Series: Cloti Fall Festival 2019 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1545817
Comments: 10
Kudos: 31





	Awaken

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, we're on a roll! Fifth entry for #ClotiFallFestival2019!
> 
> This is a short one. It started as a little drabble I'd written after thinking about the Lifestream scene, and I decided to expand on it for this event!
> 
> Nov 19 Prompt: Original Game; "Nobody said it'd be easy, they just promised it would be worth it."

He felt like his head was going to split open. Except, he was _inside_ his head. _They_ were inside his head. 

She was holding the hand of his younger self, walking through the many split paths of his subconscious. At the end, he felt the pieces falling together - literally - and he came face to face with his younger, true self. 

For a moment, he just stared at the boy as they floated in the whiteness of space. Things began to flood back into his mind all at once.

Nibelheim, on fire.

Bodies everywhere.

The reactor - Tifa’s dad, Zack’s body crushed against one of the pods.

Zack.

_Zack!_

Tifa, broken and bleeding on the steps. He’d taken his helmet off, but she was hurt, so hurt. He was late. He’d finally revealed himself and she… she was…

Anger and rage. Sadness. Despair. Hopelessness.

Sephiroth.

Jenova.

Pain radiating through his body.

Nothing.

Nothing…

He clutched his head, sinking to his knees as the memories cascaded against his consciousness. The young boy bent down in front of him and placed a hand on his head.

Hojo strapping him to a table.

Knives. Scalpels. Needles.

A tube… 

Escape!

Zack talking about dreams for the future.

_Zack…_

Cloud looked up, tears down his face. His younger self smiled sadly.

_You remember now?_

He nodded.

_Let’s go home._

Suddenly, he was on firm ground, still on his knees. When he looked up, it wasn’t the young boy staring back at him, but her.

_Tifa._

_Home._

A sea of green surrounded them. They were still in the Lifestream, in his subconscious, but he was physically present with her instead of just floating. He lowered his hands, only for her own to grab his face.

“Cloud…?”

He was still crying. He touched his forehead to hers.

“Yeah Tifa… We finally... meet again…”

He knew who he was now. Who he’s always been. They tried to break him - Jenova, Sephiroth, Hojo - but he had her to guide him out of the darkness.

Tears spilled from her eyes as she held him. “You jerk,” she whispered.

He smiled weakly, feeling joy in his heart. Finally, he was back with her as his true self. Finally, she saw all of him, and he felt free.

“Yeah, I guess so…” He stood slowly, holding her hands. “Come on Tifa. Let’s go home…”

* * *

He told all of them the truth. The _real_ truth, not the messed up story he’d recited in Kalm or the illusion Sephiroth had shown them. He told them about how embarrassed he was to only be an infantryman, about the shame that kept him from showing his face in Nibelheim five years before. About the pain he’d felt seeing his mother crushed in her burning home and Tifa at the bottom of the steps of the reactor, dying. Tifa was smiling sadly when he finished.

They discussed their next steps. Everyone went their separate ways when the meeting was finished. Cloud set the course with the pilot and left the bridge.

He found Tifa on the deck of the ship. Her hair whipped behind her as she watched the world move past them.

“We’ll be in Rocket Town in a few,” he said as he approached her. One thing he noticed about regaining his true self: his motion sickness was worse than before. There were downsides to everything he supposed. He held his head and tried to shake off the feeling.

She only nodded and quickly wiped her eyes. When he stepped up beside her, she turned away, grabbing her hair and pulling it over her shoulder to hide her face.

“Tifa?”

He heard her sniff. Her free hand remained on the rail, gripping it tightly. He touched her lightly.

Tifa looked up. Her eyes were red and puffy, brimming with fresh tears.

“Tifa…”

“I knew… I knew you were real,” she said quietly. “I couldn’t give up on you.”

He grabbed her hand and pulled her close. She laid her head on his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. He felt her shaking.

“I knew you were real,” she repeated, her voice cracking.

Cloud held her tighter. “Thank you for believing in me Tifa, even when I didn’t.”

She nodded, and he rested his head on top of hers.

“We’ve lost so much already. I couldn’t… I couldn’t lose you too. It would’ve been… too cruel,” she whispered when she calmed down.

He felt his own eyes stinging and blinked the tears away.

“When this nightmare is over,” he asked after a while, “what do you want to do? How… should we move on?”

She looked up at him with a smile. “I just want to be by your side.”

He smiled back. “I want to be by yours.”

He didn’t know how this would end, but he knew that if they survived, he wanted to be with her.

Nobody said it would be easy. They just promised it would be worth it.

He believed that, as long as he had her.


End file.
